Just for fun: If you could have any three dedicated cabinets...

[Well Fed Games]

So, if you could have any three dedicated arcade games, as they were right off the assembly line, and they were the only three you could own, what would they be? Here's the parameters: aftermarket multi-boards and jamma switchers are out [edit- scratch that- I guess if this is a fantasy list there shouldn't be that limitation- I was thinking more in the spirit of unmodified, factory-made games- but it is all good!]; for Neo Geo and Playchoice, list what games would be permanently installed in there; linked racing/flying cabs count as one choice. Price, rarity, space, maintenance, and your current cabs don't factor in- dream big! Add in a couple runners up if you just can't narrow it down.

Mine:

1. Warlords Cocktail- http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=1348&image=1

2. Outrun 2SPsdx- 4 player linked driving cab. http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=5331&image=1 Pretty sure this one costs more than a house.

3. Pac Man 25th Anniversary upright (Pac, Ms., and Galaga) http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=5833&image=1

Runners up:

4. Robotron 2084 upright- http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=2428&image=2

5. Crazy Taxi sitdown- http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=5047&image=2

man, narrowing it down is tough!  

[CheffoJeffo]

Can I get a clarification on "aftermarket multiboards" ? Would you include something like the MultiExidy440, which uses the original boards ? I guess not since your #3 is a multiboard.

My top 3 are pretty easy, depending on that definition of a multiboard, and I own all 3.

- Exidy 440 Collex'n

- Williams Multigame (in a Robotron cab with 4" Wicos)

- Galaga

If I had to have the multis above run a single game, I guess I would choose Crossbow and Robotron, but since I don't have to ... 

[emphatic]

1. Rygar - I realize this is a conversion kit only, but it's my favourite arcade game
2. Ketsui - I realize this is a conversion kit only, but it's my second favourite arcade game
3. Battle Garegga - I realize this is a conversion kit only, but it's my third favourite arcade game

I've always preferred generic cabinets, but it would be cool to build/design dedicated cabinets for these games.

[CheffoJeffo]

1. Rygar - I realize this is a conversion kit only, but it's my favourite arcade game

Great game and should probably be on my "Runner-Up" list. Sees a lot of play in my house.

[HaRuMaN]

1) Virtual On
2) Centipede
3) MKII

Runners up
Missile Command
After Burner II Cockpit (the moving one)

[Donkbaca]

MKII - fun fighter with a ton of depth
Street Fighter Alpha Three - see above
Does a Neo Geo 4 slot count? If not probably the NBA Showtime/Blitz cab.

I am not as much into 1p games. 

[Well Fed Games]

Can I get a clarification on "aftermarket multiboards" ? Would you include something like the MultiExidy440, which uses the original boards ? I guess not since your #3 is a multiboard.

Yeah, I guess the multiboard thing is kind of a fuzzy criteria- so have fun with it, it is all good!

Does a Neo Geo 4 slot count?

Yep, but you gotta list the 4 games.  

I've always preferred generic cabinets, but it would be cool to build/design dedicated cabinets for these games.

Yeah, conversion kits are cool. In this case imagine them in dedicated cabs with custom art.   Raiden barely made my list, which just came in generic cabs (ironic, because I am actually working on a Raiden project... in fact my list and what I am currently working on don't match up very well...  ).

[Hoopz]

Wizard of Wor with the correct joys.

That's it.

[Le Chuck]

Starwars Cockpit - first time I felt a girl's boob was in one of these at the roller rink.  We used to pile in to uh, play Starwars.  Good memories. [and no it wasn't last year!... year before that  ]

Discs of Tron Environmental - a mirrored beauty, really amazing

NeoGeo 4 slot playing KOF 96, Samurai Showdown II, Metal Slug 5, Goal Goal Goal (but I'd be happy with about any combination of two good fighters, one sport, and one side scroller/shooter)

Runners Up

Xybots - again nostalgia, spent a lot of time on this at the local burger joint and just have fond memories plus really great replay value.

Galaga Cocktail - New york stage deli had one and I used to sit there, have a giant reuban, then play after every visit.

Point Blank 2 - worked at a bowling alley in college (not the same one I felt that boob in) and used to open the doors up at 2am after a night of drinking so my house mates and I could have point blank tourneys... and free soda.

[CheffoJeffo]

Wizard of Wor with the correct joys.

Don't you know that classic games were just built with whatever controls they had lying around ?

 

[Donkbaca]

robotron with dual Atari 2600 joys so that I could play it the way the designers intended....

[CheffoJeffo]

Again with the fact that you can't understand the difference between a machine used for development (in which case, most classics would be played on a mainframe or mini-computer) and what was intended for mass consumption ? 

[DaveMMR]

I'm staying out of that one this time. 

Anyway, my picks:
1) Marble Madness: that was the one game I always wanted when I was younger. It's hard to replicate it at home unless you make a specific panel just for it.
2) Afterburner II: Stand-up is fine, just always enjoyed the game even if it is simple. Also hard to replicate with the lights and controls of the original.
3) Star Wars: Don't need to explain why - fun game and hard to replicate without expensive (or hard to obtain) hardware.

And then there are others I wouldn't mind having like a Multi-Williams or Neo-Geo (though I didn't include the latter because I really can't decide which games I would have in there.)

[Well Fed Games]

Hey now, the thread title even says "just for fun".   

My top 3 are pretty easy... and I own all 3.

I wish I could say the same!

Xybots - again nostalgia, spent a lot of time on this at the local burger joint and just have fond memories plus really great replay value.

Played a bit of this the other day on a PS2 compilation disk. Interesting game! Probably would have blown my mind if I had encountered it in its time.

[Donkbaca]

Cheffo, do you want to be authentic and play it the way the designers did?  OR do you want to compromise?

I think Point Blank would make into my top three, maybe ahead of the 4 slot, because I think that's kinda cheating...

[CheffoJeffo]

Cheffo, do you want to be authentic and play it the way the designers did?  OR do you want to compromise?

Anybody who understands my top 3 choices already knows that I want to play the games the way the designers intended them to be played.

 

EDIT: Let's take this particular argument back to the original thread and see if you can come up with some answers now, since you haven't yet.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117668.msg1248250#msg1248250

[DaveMMR]

I'm even seriously contemplating sledge hammering my MAME cabs and just going for a console/flat screen setup....

Sigh... hate to say it but I've been thinking about doing the same to my cab. It takes up so much space that once I make my bartop, I may dismantle my current cab just to get back some space for console video game collections and other crap. 

[SNAAKE]

silent scope

outrun cabinet from 1st post

time crisis 2

[opt2not]

Since I already own my number one cab (Robotron), my current top 3 are:

1. Jaleco Pony Mark II - though not a dedicated cabinet, the size of this jamma cabinet is wonderful. I love the smaller comfortable sit-down style, the angle of the screen, and sleek boxy lines. Set the screen to vertical, and you have the perfect shmup cab!


2. Baby Pacman - (a fully working one) Some people give this game flack for being half-way between both worlds. Yeah the video game part isn't exactly the same as traditional pacman in terms of ghost behaviors and speed, and yes the pinball play isn't too deep, but I really think the meshing of the gameplay between pin and vid is great. Having to earn your power-pellets with the drop targets, the risk/reward for hitting the blue drop target for big points/extra life, the video game upgrades to the tunnel play and fruit spawning and the progression of levels though the video game itself. This game is so much fun for those who like both vids and pins, with the convenience of being in one cabinet. And there's no way to emulate this game in Mame!


3. Gyruss - Great game, great music (in stereo!), loud/flashy looking cabinet  
Definitely in my top favourite games of all time. I already own the board (with jamma adapter, so I lose out on the stereo sound) but it's not the same as having the original cabinet with monroe sticks. I get by playing on JLW's with an octo-gate, which is actually pretty good.



Honorable mention: Lunar Lander - playing this game on the thruster controls and lit-up front panel, in glorious vectors had me completely smitten over this cabinet.

[Savannan]

1 - Bubble Bobble
2 - San Fransisco Run 2049
3 - Point Blank

[yotsuya]

1. Star Wars (Upright) - my memories of it aren't as good as Le Chuck's, tho.  
2. Karate Champ - my cousins and I put a LOT of quarters into this
3. Tron - Just because

Runner-ups: Burger Time, Robotron, Cliff Hanger

[crashwg]

Star Wars
Major Havoc
Rally-X Cocktail or Tron upright if I wasn't married.

Runners up: Danger Zone or Viper (same cab), Missile Command Environmental, Asteroids, Quantum, Trogdor.

[Well Fed Games]

Dedicated?  Why waste the floor space?  Good pinball machines could go there.

Well, in this rhetorical scenario, there is unlimited floor space, which is why I chose a ginormous linked racing setup.

Hell, lets include pins- they are welcome in our fantasy arcade, too.

[DillonFoulds]

1. HS2 - The Getaway (Pin )
2. Bubble Bobble (passed time in many classes with this game on a TI-83
3. Gauntlet Legends :D:D

[Thenasty]

1. Asteriods ( If multi exist, I'll take that)
2. Pinball Machine (Kiss, Mars Attack)
3. MAME

[NiN^_^NiN]

Wizard of Wor with the correct joys.

That's it.

This! and maybe a twin daytona system for fun

[Nephasth]

1. Satan's Hollow
2 & 3. Hydro Thunder (two linked together)

[Louis Tully]

.

[trekking95]

1: Tron!!! 
2: Discs of Tron
3: PacMan

(if Space Paranoids from Tron was real that would be 3 but it isn't )

[stu33]

Just three?  Yikes.

1.  Battlezone.  Love those sticks, and the scope...just plain cool.
2.  Burgertime.  Just a cool distinctive cabinet.  And a great game.
3.  Omega Race - upright.  Love this game.

Complete nostalgia run here...all three of these games were in my uncle's arcade when I was a kid.  And were the three I played the most.  I had a ritual.  I'd go straight to the juke, fire up Electric Avenue (usually...Be Good Johnny got in the rotation sometimes) and head straight for Battlezone. 

[DillonFoulds]

(if Space Paranoids from Tron was real that would be 3 but it isn't )

Oh but it is, there's two in Flynn's Arcade in Disneyland!

[Green Giant]

1.  House of the Dead 2 or 3  -   Wife would kill me if I had this opportunity and didn't get a shooting cab.
2.  Fast and Furious Driving Game - Wife would kill me if I had this opportunity and didn't get a sit down driving cab.
3.  Street Fighter 4 - I think I would get the most use out of a fighter.

[Green Giant]

I'm even seriously contemplating sledge hammering my MAME cabs and just going for a console/flat screen setup....

Sigh... hate to say it but I've been thinking about doing the same to my cab. It takes up so much space that once I make my bartop, I may dismantle my current cab just to get back some space for console video game collections and other crap. 

You guys are crazy.

At most I have though of putting in an LCD, chopping off the back half of my cab, and creating a slim arcade.



When I look at my cabinet, it is not the width that takes up so much space, it is the huge ass on the back of the thing.  Although I can't complain about my fatty cab with my giant photo booth taking up so much space.

[RayB]

Cheffo, do you want to be authentic and play it the way the designers did?  OR do you want to compromise?

do you SERIOUSLY believe they kept the atari joysticks the entire development cycle right on up till the day it went into location testing?!

[DaveMMR]

I'm even seriously contemplating sledge hammering my MAME cabs and just going for a console/flat screen setup....

Sigh... hate to say it but I've been thinking about doing the same to my cab. It takes up so much space that once I make my bartop, I may dismantle my current cab just to get back some space for console video game collections and other crap. 

You guys are crazy.

At most I have though of putting in an LCD, chopping off the back half of my cab, and creating a slim arcade.

Ah I figure at this point, I'd rather dedicate the room to real arcade cabinets (even if just a JAMMA and a bunch of boards) and save the MAME stuff for the smaller scale.  But turning it into a slim is not a bad idea.  Something to consider.   

[Donkbaca]

do you SERIOUSLY believe they kept the atari joysticks the entire development cycle right on up till the day it went into location testing?!

I never said that.  Do you REALLY think that they built the game from the ground up with the idea of it having Wico Leaf sticks with non-standards shafts?

[Well Fed Games]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117668.msg1248250#msg1248250


Fight where the fight has thread context.

[AlienInferno]

The 3 I would definatly like to get are:

Pac-Man
Donkey Kong
Galaga

If I could make it 5 I would also have to add:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles
The Simpsons

[Dervacumen]

Tron
Donkey Kong Junior
Joust

At least I have the Tron.  The DK Jr. is sitting in a garage four houses down not working, but I haven't been able to wrangle it in yet.
The Joust will be a pretty easy score once I have my DK Jr.

I have modest dreams I guess.

[werejag]

1. 4 slot neogeo
2. sega naomi nnc
3. last star fighter

[Well Fed Games]

1. 4 slot neogeo
2. sega naomi nnc
3. last star fighter

What games would be in the Neo and Naomi? Any favorites?

[edekoning]

1 Daytona USA
2 Virtual On
3 X-Men vs Street Fighter

The first two would mean that I need to get a bigger a house 

[garnerb350]

1. Donkey Kong ( love that cab style)
2. Bust A Move ( i killed so much time at work playing that game)
3. Mortal Kombat 3 (After so many years i can still remember the combo moves)

[NiN^_^NiN]

I know exactly what my 3rd one would be

Bad dudes Vs Dragon Ninja
I use to play this game as a kid all the time in the Video store was one (Possibly the first) of the first few I ever played

[HaRuMaN]

I know exactly what my 3rd one would be

Bad dudes Vs Dragon Ninja
I use to play this game as a kid all the time in the Video store was one (Possibly the first) of the first few I ever played

I own that PCB now.  Still one of my favorites.  Gets thrown back in my candy cab from time to time.

[danny_galaga]

Just give me a Polybius cab and I'll be happy (",)

[Le Chuck]

Just give me a Polybius cab and I'll be happy (",)

Downloaded, getting ready to play in 3....2....a;[odviy /;lzx u;p [oiep; [89'; .,/...

Edit:  Okay, I really did DL & just played for like half an hour, didn't think I would stay on that long.  For one the menus are totally hilarious and somewhat unsettling in the higher function.  For two the game really can give you a nasty ass case of vertigo so be careful.  I started to feel a migraine creeping so I shut it down.  Game is a homebrew and homepage is aqui: http://www.sinnesloschen.com/1.php   

[Dawgz Rule]

Too many to choose........

Gauntlet
Tempest
Battlezone

Of course, I couldn't have dedicated cabinets because it would get in the way of the pinball machines.

[opt2not]

Necro bump!

I finally got one of the cabs I listed earlier... Baby Pac-man!


Now only Gyruss and a pony candy cab left, and oh yeah, space...need to get more space first!

[EssexMame]

Out Run (sit down)
Gauntlet 4 player
Operation Wolf

[Drnick]

Time Pilot
Mr Do
Championship Sprint

(Those are the games I remember most fondly from my youth).

[Yenome]

Umk3
KI
rastan/gladiator cant decide on the last spot id take either of those.

[gheffing]

I have two right now

Berzerk-- Dedicated

Robotron--Dedicated

Red Baron, dont have this but used to play the hell out of it.

Runners up.

Stargate

soul blade.

[danny_galaga]

I can't believe no one has listed Galaxian 3!



Of course, if you have that, you probably won't have any room for another two cabs 

[Howard_Casto]

Sure you would... you can put the cabs inside Galaxian 3. 

[Yenome]

heck just live in the galaxian 3 cab.

[wp34]

Roadblasters UR
Star Wars Cockpit
Asteroids Deluxe

[danny_galaga]

Sure you would... you can put the cabs inside Galaxian 3. 

[opt2not]

Sure you would... you can put the cabs inside Galaxian 3. 

YO DAWG I HERD U LIKE ARCADES SO WE PUT AN ARCADE IN UR ARCADE SO U CAN GAME WHILE U GAME.

[z-kun]

Fix-it Felix, Jr.
Polybius, if that counts (if not, Super Mario Bro's 3 is probably my all-time favourite game, so that would be awesome)
Does Sugar Rush count? I mean, I know it doesn't technically exist, but if it did.... If not, a red or blue Computer Space cab would be awesome, though the game within doesn't have to be Computer Space.

[Malenko]

Umk3
KI
rastan/gladiator cant decide on the last spot id take either of those.

I have 2 of your 3 grails, lol.  The UMK3 is in an MKII cab though

[zvar]

Gauntlet (any really, but probably the original)
Star Wars Racer
Q Bert

-Steven

[Zero_Hour]

Darius
Tempest
Marble Madness

[ark_ader]

Galaxy Force 2
Discs of Tron (Environmental)
Star Trek (Cockpit)

[Trebeck]

Just because of the memories:

1) Commando
2) APB (for my buddy)
3) Mario Bros.